Mattai

Mattai was a Jewish merchant from Cephalonia. In 1499, Mattai and several of his tribesmen fled from Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire and arrived in Rome, where his tribe moved with after fleeing Ottoman persecution. Mattai met with Pope Alexander VI and presented him with the Spear of Longinus and several other gifts (including taxes for the crusade against the Turks and a tithe for the next year's jubilee) in exchange for being allowed to stay in Rome.